


The Inevitability of Falling in Love

by arkhamknights



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Complicated math courses, Creative Writing courses, Creative and cutesy Ian, Kinda a crack fic to distract me, M/M, Really smart mickey, So i don’t make myself sad with COMARD, University AU, which isn’t out yet oh no
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 07:35:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13359561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arkhamknights/pseuds/arkhamknights
Summary: It was mostly disgusting, but also kind of entertaining, watching a twenty one year old man dump a red bull into a coffee, then down it in thirteen seconds flat.





	1. Library’s Hotties

Ian didn’t hate university. He really didn’t, he loved it, but returning in at a full blast with a 7AM lecture was a bit of a push. 

Plus, his roommate didn’t sleep. His name was Tully, and so far he was one of Ian’s best friends, but the redhead didn’t think he’d ever seen the boy bat an eyelash. He was a music and English lit student, so he still managed to converse with Ian easily. 

But then, staring at the coffee in front of him in the city library made Ian remind himself of how much he missed high school. Sure, it was stressful and hellish and people were really mean, but being scared because you hadn’t done a homework sheet versus not having done a fifteen page essay were different things.

“You’re doing great, you fucking loser,” Tully commented as he sat down beside his roommate, a coffee for himself in his hand. Ian bleakly looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. The freckled boy rolled his eyes, and pushed the redheads coffee further towards him. “Come on, you need it,” 

Ian mumbled something incoherent under his breath, and tapped the sides of the cardboard cup for the hot drink. Sighing, Tully gave up an started waving over Faith, when she was visibly walking towards them.

Faith was Ian’s best friend. She had been since he’d moved to the city, and he wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was the somehow sweet appearance of the cute smile and colourful clothing that didn’t really go with the dark, red hair and nose ring. All he knew is that the second she met Tully, they acted as if they were long lost siblings. Physically, they could pass as it, seeing as Faiths natural hair colour was the same, honeycomb brown as Tully’s, and that had the same splatter of freckles.

“What’s up bih,” she grinned innocently, throwing her bright yellow fjallraven kanken bag to the floor, and taking the coffee from Ian’s fingertips. She barely dipped it before handing it back, and for some reason, Ian trusted it then. He drank slowly, still. “How’s the assignment going, nerds?” 

Tully snorted, and waved a hand to his mess of notes and torn out pages from textbooks. It was probably a huge waste of money and really dumb, but he still tore them out. Ian noticed within three days he sometimes pinned them on the wall. Within a month, the brunettes wall space just above his bed was entirely pasted with news articles, textbook paragraphs and cinema tickets. Tully was weird, but cool. And extremely smart. “It’s not,”

“Damn, Gallagher holding you back?” Faith asked as she slipped into her seat beside Ian, running a hand through Tully’s hair, who whined and batted her away. “shut it, asswipe, your hairs a mess,”

Tully flipped her off, but selfconciously pulled his hood over his hair to hide the mess of brown curls. Then, he sighed again and half assed glaring at Ian, who grinned innocently back, his tongue between his teeth.

“I’ve gotta go return that book before Janice gets on my ass. I’ll be right back,” Ian rolled his eyes at Tully when he mumbled ‘good’ under his breath. “Fuck off, dickbreath. I’ll get you a bubble tea later if you stop your bitching,” 

The redhead snorted when his freckled friend instantly perked up at that, and started reading over his notes. Sliding out of his chair, Ian grabbed the book from his bag and waltzed to the front desk, where Janice was staring expectantly at him. 

“Heyyy, JJ, what’s up?” He gave her his most charming smile, but the forty-or-so woman gave him a pointed look and held out her hand for the book. He sighed, and handed it over, cringing when she scanned it.

“A week late, Gallagher. Fifty cents has been added to your unfathomable fine list. You got change on you, yet?” She raised her eyebrows, already knowing the fake answer she was going to get. 

Ian huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Seriously? I’m a University student and you expect me to be carrying around spare change? And in an area like this! I should report this to the news, maybe even sue you! How would you like that, Janice?” She rolled her eyes and laughed, glaring at his shoulder. “You’re giving me the stone eyes now, JJ? Seriously? To think I was in love with you!” 

“Get the fuck outta the way, you fuckin dramatic firecrotch,” Someone grunted from behind him, easily shoving him out of the way. Janice’s normal near-to-quitting expression she wore when speaking to Ian switched to an icy cold, menacing glare Ian didn’t think the woman could even produce.

“Whats a Milkovich doing here? Stealing from the movie section? The best film we have is Spider-Man 3, and we all know about that monstrosity,” She seethed, eyes following the dark haired man who’d caught the entirety of Ian’s attention.

Oh, hell. He was drop dead fucking gorgeous. Ian was just staring at him, wide eyed, with his jaw on the fucking floor. 

The ‘Milkovich’ hissed at her, held up a middle finger and dumped three rather big looking textbooks. One about analysing the structure of writing or some dumb shit, (well, not dumb. But you know) and two about complicated Math that Ian could never even wish to understand. 

“Nah, surprisingly last names don’t always determine the personality,” he snarled back at Janice, slapping down his student library card. She eyed it carefully, even reading over the name to prove she was right, and cautiously started scanning the books. The Milkovich boy tapped impatiently on the counter, eyeing her every move.

And he was a fucking student? Ian didn’t think his day could get any better. A gorgeous badass that went to the same University as him and sassed library ladies and did not give a shit ( judging by the knuckle tattoos, of course ). He was in love, already.

“What the fuck are you looking at, ginger snap? You waitin for something? Cause it sounded like you were fuckin done,” The dark haired student sneered at him, his eyebrows raising half way up his forehead. Ian wanted to die from the pain it gave his chest and the dirty thoughts that swirled in his head. 

“No, I gotta pay some fines,” Janice looked up at the redhead in utter confusion as she finished scanning Milkoviches books, who simply laughed a little at that, and collecting them before shoving them in a bag. 

“Fuckin sure, red, you keep flirting with her. Hey, how wrinkled is her minge? Update me when you find out,” he rolled his eyes as he pushed past.

“She’s not a guy, so I wouldn’t know,” Ian mumbled as the dark haired man walked past, pausing to look back at him. The redhead couldn’t tell if it was disbelief or disgust, but Milkovich stumbles away before he could look into it too much. 

“Really? You’ve got the hots for him?” Janice asked, clearly pissed off and disgusted by the comment about her so called ‘minge’ from the Milkovich. Ian narrowed his eyes at her and pulled out his wallet, slapping down ten bucks.

“Keep the change, JJ,” she reached for it, but he pulled it back towards him and grinned, “but only if you tell me his name,”

She rolled her eyes, taking the ten bucks from his grasp, and putting it in the register. “Mikhailo Milkovich. I knew of his brother, Ignatius. Weird, troublemaking Ukrainian kids who decide to go by Mickey and Iggy instead. There’s like five of them, and I don’t think any use their real names,”

“Know any of the others?” Ian pressed, leaning forwards and resting his chin on the palm of his hand. Janice laughed a little at him, and tapped her nails against the counter.

“Well, Iggy went here for a year, a few back, and got kicked out. Amanda is a year younger than you, started this year. But I didn’t tell you this, okay Gallagher?” She raised her eyebrows at him, and turned to her computer, “I like you and your enthusiasm for books, but you’re annoying. Get away from me before I get fired,”

Ian grinned, and thanked her around for times as he skipped back to his table. He all but fell into his chair, and his head fell to his crossed arms on top of the table. Rosanna glanced at him and instantly grinned. “Who was it?”

He smiled hazily up at her, whilst Tully had to grasp what was going on and eventually gasped. “The love of my goddamn life,” she laughed at that, naturally, but pushed for details simply with the flicker her eyes gave across the room. 

“I spoke to him. Once, but still! He’s my age! All dark hair, bright eyes and knuckle tattoos. Oh, he insult-“

“Knuckle tattoos?!” Tully asked, his proper North side fanciness kicking in. He gasped at his best friend, and smacked his arm. “No! No way! He probably came here to nick shit, Ian!” 

“I’ll have you know him and two of his siblings go, or went, to our Uni! So fuck you very much, it’s true love,” he glared at Tully, who glared back, but both of them were smiling. 

“Went? These sound like some Southside baddies,” Rosanna clicked her tongue, turning the page in her textbook. Rolling his eyes, Ian finally opened his own.

“Whatever. He’s the love of my life and I am going to valiantly win his heart over!”


	2. Days Without Satisfaction, Days With

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s been two days since the library fiasco, and Ian is getting desperate. Luckily, he doesn’t have to search for the dark haired man.

“It’s been two days, Faith, two days!” Ian groaned loudly, throwing a his hands up in the air above him. He was lying stretched out on his bed, with his legs thrown over Faiths lap. Opposite him, on his own bed, Tully lay on his front with his nose in a fantastical fantasy book, chipping into their conversation every once in a awhile. “He’s the love of my life, I’m telling you,”

“No he’s not, you great dingleberry,” Tully snorted, closing his book and chucking it at the redhead, who sadly had extra quick reflexes and caught it midair, throwing it back and successfully hitting the young mans shoulder. 

“Do you even know what that means?” The redhead narrowed his eyes at his other best friend, taking a piece of popcorn from the bag Faith was holding, and shoving it into his mouth. “If you do, you’re gross and I hate you,”

“Whatever, vegan,”

“I’m not vegan!”

Tully grinned innocently at him, and received a flying piece of popcorn to hit him square in the face, rather than a book. He still happily picked it up from his chest and shovelled it into his mouth. Ian grimaced in fake disgust. 

“You two are like children!” Faith sighed dramatically, and loudly. She did kind of look like the parent in that moment, scowling at them over the rims over her glasses, a confusing looking Psychology book in her hand. She would be a terrifying mom. “Besides, don’t you both have a class to prepare for?”

“Right, a seven am class, that’s why we’re here. Ugh, I hate everyone. And everything. Especially time and the ability to always feel tired,” Faith shoved at his feet and hit them with her phycology book. The look she gave him was enough of a use for him to give up arguing. “Fine! If you want us to go and study every word in some weird ass book, we will! Come on Tuls, let’s find somewhere better to be.” 

“Well, this is our room. So we could just.. kick her out?” Tully snorted. The redhead bit his tongue as stuck it out as he stood up, tiredly rubbing at his eyes and stumbling to his desk. He yawned, and started dumping things in his satchel bag, after sliding his laptop in, carefully. It’d taken Fiona months to get one, since the Uni didn’t offer one, and he felt awful knowing he hadn’t even payed for it all. Plus, if it did break, he figured that’d be it, and he’d be stuck with paper and pen forever.

Tully did the same, gathering his things and putting on his artsy circular glasses that Ian teased him relentlessly for, and stole pieces of popcorn from Faith when she didn’t manage to smack his hand away in time. “When’s your next class?” He asked through a mouthful of toffee flavoured goodness, making Faith wrinkle her nose in disgust. 

“Not until two. Can I chill here? Nancy’s being weird again.” Faith reasoned, folding the top of the bag of snacks over and putting it next to her. Ian pulled his hoodie and jacket on, looking at her pointedly. 

“No. For forcing me to go to a seven am class you deserve to suffer,” He shrugged, and gave her a half assed apologetic smile. She kicked him in the foot, and a few seconds later, Tully kicked his calf.

“I hate it when you’re on your man period,” the dark haired, young man tsked, and nodded at their female friend. “Of course, Faith. Lock up if you’re going out,” 

She gave him a thumbs up and started flipping through her psychology book again. Ian smiled, and shoved Tully out of the door. “Buy us Starbucks and be back for when we are and you may even win an overnight stay on my floor! Doesn’t that sound fun?”

-

The idea of class at seven in the morning on its own was horrible. But not only that, Tully had been whisked away by his weird Indie friends and forced to sit with them for ‘at least one day’ (everyone knew they’d be stuck in their seats for the rest of the semester). So, Ian was left to sit on his own, in one of the back rows, and manage to set his laptop and notebook and everything else up, since he was pretty early. 

He was just booting up his laptop when someone slid into the seat next to him, and he would’ve quickly said hello before getting to work, if when he looked up he hadn’t have been caught on bright fucking blue eyes and jittery movements. 

He opened his mouth to say something, anything to get gorgeous Mickeys attention, but the so called delinquent was tied up in something else.

Mickey probably hadn’t even paid attention to where he was sitting, who he was sitting with. Either way, Ian was happy. Happy enough to stare at the young man reach into his satchel bag, muck alike to the redheads, and pull out a red bull, setting it down next to the flask he’d already put on the table. 

It was mostly disgusting, but also kind of entertaining, watching a twenty one year old man dump a red bull into a coffee, then down it in thirteen seconds flat. Mickey winced and groaned after, then tried to stifle a burp, a shiver ripping through his body. Ian continued to stare as he grabbed a definitely second hand and one million year old laptop, and booting it up. 

That’s when Mickey noticed. Probably because he had no wiring drink or science technology to focus on, he realised there were dark green eyes watching his every move. Ian felt the stab of blue glaring right back at him, and he knew it was a warning, but he played it obliviously. “Hi, me again. Why the fuck do you look dead?”

Mickey looked slightly taken aback at that, but quickly reassigned himself and scoffed at the cheery redhead sat next to him. “Fuck off, red, don’t force your nose into other people’s business,” 

Ian held his hands up in surrender, but he was grinning, so it didn’t really help the cause. “Sorry! Just wondering. Not get much sleep?”

“The fuck did I just tell you?!” Mickey snapped, diverting all his pissed off attention to his incredibly slow laptop, which he’d just realised had blue screened. “Fuck!”

“Here,” Ian hummed, and helpfully shoved Mickey his empty notebook and a pen. “It’s not ideal but for one day, at least. I’d let you use my laptop but it’s got gay germs all over it,” 

“What the fuck, man?” Mickey made a disgusted noise, but still took the pen and notebook, somewhat reluctantly. Ian shrugged, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

“Sorry, not all of us are homophobes,” He shrugged, looking at his own laptop, which was working, to type in his password and wait for it to load up. Patiently, of course. Because Gallaghers definitely did patience. 

Mickey glared at him again, and loudly slammed the notebook open, making the redhead jump at look up with a questioning stare. The blue eyed man looked absolutely livid, and Ian tried not to sow the fear he felt, but he was certain with people like Mickey, they could taste it in the air. The Milkovich glared stonily at Ian, and spoke slowly, sinister and tons more terrifying than before.

“I am not homophobic,” Mickey snapped, his eyebrows drawing together and his bright eyes boring holes into Ian’s. The redhead didn’t even seem phased, and simply arched his own eyebrow. “You just- you’re very, uh, you...” The Milkovich trailed off, biting his tongue at how dumb he sounded. Ian snorted at the attempt.

“Got it, thanks Sergeant Slaughter,” Mickey snarled, but started sketching doodles into the corner of the notebook, and Ian was mostly glad that he at least accept the favour. 

A few rows down, Tully was staring at up, his neck in a painful position to look up and behind him. ‘What’s with him?’ He mouthed, flicking his eyes briefly to Mickey. Ian rolled his own, and shrugged, mouthing back ‘it’s the guy’. 

Tully’s eyes went wide, then immediatly fell to Mickeys knuckles, and his jaw dropped at the obscenity written across them. Sadly, the delinquent had noticed Ian’s jagged head movements of communication, and glared down at Tully when the boy examined his tattoos. “You got a fuckin’ problem, freckles?!” He yelled down the row, not even really caring when the professor nwalked in.

Ian shut up for the remainder of the class

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kgjfjfjfn I literally love this fic sm. it’s gonna be a real slow burn though. Pls comment, it keeps me going!! x
> 
> -Ryan


	3. Dramatic Descriptions of Mickey Milkovich

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was getting to the point where Ian was slightly worried for Mickey Milkovich’s health. Well, slightly was a big understatement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> User ‘ingridlasko’ commented that they sometimes made the drink Mickey asks for, so I added it in b/c why not. I hope you liked this part!

"He's fucking terrifying, oh my god!" Tully whisper screamed, grabbing onto Ian's elbow the second they left the lecture hall. Assuming he was talking about Mickey, which he was, Ian snorted and rolled his eyes at his best friend. "He is! He was writing on pen and paper, and don't think I didn't notice the extra unhealthy, god awful drink combo!"

"Since when did you say unhealthy in a sentence not regarding yourself?" Ian asked, humming along and refusing to look at Tully, who whined. "His laptop blue screened, moron. He's nice,"  
Gggggg  
"Fucking right I am," Someone sneered from behind them, and the redhead would've frozen if Mickey hadn't have shoved in-between them, ignoring Tully completely. "Here's your shit, red," he rubbed his nose with his knuckle and shrugged gratefully at Ian, handing over the pen and notebook. 

Ian nodded, his mouth slightly open and his eyes slightly wide. He probably looked really weird, and gross, but he couldn't help to drool over the totally gorgeous man. "Get your friend to watch his fuckin' tongue, if he wants to keep it," 

"Mickey!" Ians eyes finally snapped up, to try and find whoever was yelling. Who the fuck would be looking for- oh. His sister. Or at least that's who he figured she was. A young girl, but probably their age too, with long dark hair and electrifying eyes was learnt against a stone pillar. Not only did she have the same facial features, she also had the same intimidating looks and body behaviour that Mickey did. He glared at Tully briefly, and simply looked at Ian, before speed walking forward from them and chatting quietly to his sister (Mandy, Ian thought he remembered), both hissing and grunting words. 

"You feel for that?" Tully asked, judgmentally, his eyes following the Milkovich siblings, but for an entirely different reason. For of an analysis reason, desperately trying to understand them whilst they wouldn't know he was staring and wouldn't beat his face in with a tire iron. 

"He's perfect." Ian scolded, quite literally swooning when Mickey walked past a window and the light him particularly good. The redhead groaned loudly. "I'm so fucking gay,"

-

It was getting to the point where Ian was slightly worried for Mickey Milkovich’s health. Well, slightly was a big understatement.

It’d been just over a day since he leant the terrifying young man a notebook, and the redhead was already missing his soft thug eye candy. Faith had text him an hour back, asking him to meet her and Tully for coffee off campus. 

To get his mind off of Mickey, he agreed, but was out of the dorm a little too early. Deciding to take the more scenic route of going the long way, through the campus gardens where everyone was studying and there were way too many guys with guitars, rather than the ugly little road behind dorm block D. 

That’s when Ian saw him. Mickey, sat under a tree that was just out of sight, around the corner where no one really sat, because it was pretty, but not big enough for the large groups of Art History students and then instruments. 

Mickey, though, looked like a fucking angel. Half of his arm was almost literally glowing, the shade of the tree not quite reaching that area of pale skin, though the sun did. His hair looked even darker than normal, if possible, with the dramatic contrasts. He had his eyes glued on a textbook that was leant against his knee, propped up, whilst he chewed on a pen and scribbled things down into a notebook that lay on his thigh. And fuck, Ian had totally been staring and Mickey had finally noticed.

“The fuck do you want, Gallagher?” He shot, almost reflexively shutting his books and hiding them to his side. Ian smiled a little, and waved, slowly walking over. When he was closer he finally noticed Mickeys eyes. Normally they were bright blue, although there were always smudges of purples underneath. Now, they looked almost illuminated, red rimmed and bloodshot like he hadn’t slept for three days. 

“Holy crap, Mick, are you okay?” Ian asked suddenly, having to stop himself from getting too close, kneeling down and touching the young mans shoulder. The dark haired man winced slightly, and glared. He stood up, collecting his books and shoving them into his satchel bag. 

“I’m fan-fuckin-tastic, red. Could you kindly leave me the fuck alone?” Mickey groaned, trying to push past the bright haired man. Except he all but stumbled, and Ian had to grab him so he didn’t fall over. His eyes were watering slightly, now out in the light. 

“Mick, you need to sleep. What the fuck?” Ian mumbled, not used to seeing anyone this exhausted, and affected in that way. 

“No I fuckin don’t. I said I’m fine,” Mickey snapped, but his eyes were betraying him, and starting to close. The warmth of the redhead and the sun, plus the stability of Ian holding him up was enough for his mind to half shut down and prepare for sleep. 

“Hey, whoa, okay. Could you at least come get some coffee with me?” Ian watched as Mickey looked up at him, both baffled and annoyed, “I was supposed to be meeting Tully and Faith. I meant, did you want to come get coffee with me, and them?” He coughed awkwardly.

Mickey sighed, and waved the man off, attempting to push past him again. “No, I need to finish this-“ 

“It can wait an hour or so,” Ian tried to hide his concerned looks, and did a mental fist pump when Mickey gave up arguing, and trailed next him down the paths, and out to town.

Tully seemed more than petrified when Ian came in with Mickey at his heels, but when they got over, he also noticed the rings under the delinquents eyes, and how he practically collapsed into the booth, deciding to only sit next to Ian, but also able to get out and scamper away if he needed to. Even Faith seemed totally confused.

“I hope you guys don’t mind that Mickey came,” Ian said as he sat down, his hand itching to reach out and hold the dark haired man up when he sat down and nearly fell. “He’s a little tired so I asked if he wanted to get coffee with us,”

Tully ignites the fact that Ian made the ‘us’ sound like a weird third person thing, and instead watched the other man, closer. He kept blinking, like he was forcing himself to stay away, and was tracing patterns in the wood of the desk. He was more tired than ‘a little’. 

“That’s fine. You know what you want, Mickey? I’ll go order for us all,” Faith asked, directing the question at the two latecomers. Mickeys head snapped up, and he looked slightly startled, but blinked a few times and nodded. 

“Uh, could you maybe ask them to make a double Americano, but replace the water with Red Bull? Tell them I’ll pay for both,” Mickey hummed, his hands fumbling with his bag to get his wallet out. Both of Ian’s best friends noticed the almost heartbroken and sympathetic look in the redheads eyes, and quickly scrambled for his own wallet. 

“I’ve got it, Mick, don’t worry,” Ian smiled slightly, sliding enough money to Faith to cover both the coffees, and the energy drink. “Thanks Faith,” he nodded at her with a sad smile, and she returned it. 

“Didn’t have to do that, Gallagher,” Mickey spoke quietly, going back to tracing patterns. “Thanks, or whatever...” 

Ian watched him closely, and smiled, his insides feeling like they were being set on fire, and his whole body heating up like a log burner. Instead of talking back, he nodded.


	4. Insomnia Walking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What is it then, Ian? True love? You've known him for like, a week! He's fucked up in more ways than one and you aren't exactly the best either!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a tiny bit angsty. thanks for reading!!
> 
> -ryan

Faith came back with their coffees after a short wait, four mugs on a tray, and an opened can of Red Bull. She put the correct drinks down in front of everyone, and the can next to Mickeys mug. "They didn't use all of it, so," 

Mickey nodded, licking his lips and blinking warily at his drink, fingers slowly reaching out to touch the hot ceramic. Ian hadn't really been watching anything else but the young man, and quietly sighed before picking up his own drink, an extremely sweet and sickening caramel frappacino with whipped cream and chocolate flakes. It was really unhealthy, but fuck it, it's not like he had one every week, so it couldn't affect him too much. 

He noticed the second mickey finished his drink, because it wasn't too long after they all got them. Ian wasn't even a third of the way through his, Tully was about half and Faith had barely touched hers. But no one said anything, they just chatted quietly about how bullshit their assignments were and how disgusting the front of the Uni was at that moment. 

Although he was quiet, Mickey did chip into conversation every now and then, and Faith also liked to ask him questions, to try and understand him. She didn't do it on purpose, it was a physiology student habit. "So, Mickey." She tapped her mug, "what do you take?" 

"Uh, English Lit with those two, and Advanced Mathematics," He didn't look at her when he was talking, or any of them, just continued to glare at the table and shiver. Faith didn't seem to mind the lack of eye contact, but she definitely made a mental note of it.

"Is there a lot of work with Advanced Math?"

Mickey looked confused, but scrubbed a hand over is face. "Uh, not so much work, but a lot of studying I guess...". Faith nodded again, and when Ian finally caught here eye, he gave her a look that said 'back off'. She raised her eyebrows and looked like she was about to laugh, but backed down last second.

The redhead then looked back at Mickey, who's eyelids were drooping once again, and he was shifting around in his seat, clearly trying to get comfortable. Faith coughed, catching his attention again. "Ian, can I talk to you for a second? It's about Tully's birthday,"

Ian tried not to roll his eyes. Using the birthday excuse was their little code for 'I need to talk to you ASAP, it's important you little shit'. "Sorry Mick, just need to get through,". Mickey firefly blinked and nodded, briefly standing up to let Ian out, before shuffling down the seats and pressing himself into the corner of the booth, closing his eyes. 

Faith grabbed Ian's hand, noticing his staring once again, and pulled him to the direction of the bathrooms, stopping just outside. "What's wrong with him?" She asked, demandingly, and crossed her arms over her chest. 

Ian shrugged, copying the stance and staring back at her. "I don't know. Aren't you the wannabe therapist?" She gave him an icy glare, and peered over to the table. Her hostile expression softened a little.

"He's asleep." she said simply, and Ian nearly fell over to glance at their table. Indeed, Mickey was curled into himself, tucked in the corner of the booth, his eyes shut, chest rising steadily with each breath. Tully was staring at them, mouthing exaggeratedly for help. "Whatever is wrong with him, Ian, don't make it worse. I know you think you like him, but you thought you liked Frankie and George and Cal-"

"Don't," the redhead warned, his tone sharp and warning. Faith sighed, and rubbed at her temple. "That's not what this is."

"What is it then, Ian? True love? You've known him for like, a week! He's fucked up in more ways than one and you aren't exactly the best either!" 

Ian blinked a few times, his heart falling to the pit of his stomach. "What the fuck?" He mumbled, shoving past her, his hands trembling. Waking Mickey up definitely wasn't a good idea, but fuck everyone if he was going to stay and let the feeling of being strangled stay with him. 

He gently shook the dark haired mans shoulder, ignoring Tully's extremely confused and desperate look from the other side of the table. Blue eyes fluttered open, and a hand immediately came up to try and violently do something, but stopped half way when he realised it was Ian. 

"Can we go?" Ian asked exasperatedly, biting the sides of his tongue sharply. Mickey looked confused, and sat up slightly, looking at Tully for some sort of explanation as to why Ian was so shook up, and why Faith was the other side of the coffee shop, staring at them with a dejected look in her eyes.

"Uh, sure Gallagher, what's goi-"

"Cool. To my dorm it is," he helped the older man up, despite the fact Mickey looked like he would murder him for the gesture, and briefly flickered his eyes over to Faith, who was chewing at her nail, eyes slightly glistening. He didn’t even give her the satisfaction of any sort of emotion in his expression. When he looked at Tully, the freckled boy rolled his eyes.

“Im staying at Rosie and Noah’s tonight, seeya tomorrow.” Ian gave him a grateful smile, mumbled a goodbye and lead Mickey outside as quick as he possibly could. 

They made it about halfway back to the campus, in full, hurried steps when Mickey reached out and uselessly tried to grab Ians shoulders, but it was failed, since when the redhead turned around, he nearly collapsed. It was the second time that day Ian jumped to his side to hold him up. “Don’t walk so fuckin fast, Gallagher, I’m tired,” Mickey groaned through clenched teeth, showing the redhead off and containing to walk, but definitely slower. 

Ian swallowed, and walked beside the young man instead, feeling better knowing he’d at least be at his side, rather than not even facing him if he did pass out. Thankfully, he didn’t, and they made it to Ians dorm. Mickey instantly sat on the bed that looked like Tully’s (since it was surrounded by books and the bedside table had indented sticks all over it. Plus, Ian’s was covered in textbooks and a few Marlboros boxes) and watched the redhead shake of his jacket, still slightly off. “The fuck is up, Red?”

Ian looked over at him, stopping his pacing. His mouth opened to reply, but he closed it, and instead took the opportunity to further study Mickey. His eyes were just blue, they were bright fucking blue, but there were smudges of black and blue underneath, and they were literally bloodshot. His skin was pale when the redhead had first seen him in the library, but it was blue-ing slightly, and he’d lost a little weight too. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” The redhead stated simply, his problems feeling the size of an ant in just the appearance of the south side thug. 

Mickey blinked wearily at him and rolled his eyes, visibly shivering and sitting back against the wall. Sighing, Ian ran a hand over his face and walked over, holding out his hand. “Shoes, jacket, jeans. I can lend you some clothes to sleep in m. You need to rest. If you don’t, I’ll drug you and force you to,” 

Mickey froze slightly, and scratched at the back of his hand. He shivered again, and Ians glare hardened. He gave in after a few seconds, kicking his shoes to the floor, pulling off his jeans after sliding under the duvet, and cuddling his jacket into his chest, glaring at Ian the whole time. The redhead snorted, and walked to the light switch to turn them off. Mickey watched the shadow of this weirdly nice stranger waddle across the room and slip into his own bed, and he couldn’t help but think that he didn’t really deserve what was being handed to him. Like it was a test...?


	5. He’s That Satisfaction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone’s telling Ian it’s a bad idea, but he couldn’t care less. He was determined to make Mickey Milkovich crack.

It probably wasn't a brilliant idea insisting to make Mickey stay in his and Tully's dorm, considering his was half way across campus and there was no way Ian was letting him fully wake himself up and not get any sleep. 

But the dude was grouchy as hell in the morning. "Should've let me go fuckin' home yesterday, Red. I'm not being your personal wall for whatever the fuck is going on with you and your girl toy," was the first thing Mickey said when Ian exited the tiny bathroom attached to the room, awake finally. 

"First of all, I'm gay, second of all, you weren't being the wall, I wouldn't have let her in anyway and you fell asleep at the coffee store. There's no way I was going to let you waste a few hours sleep," 

A few hours was still probably correct. Ian had been studying for half the night, and although Mickey drifted off pretty fast, he woke up hundreds of times and didn't fall back asleep easily. It took all his might not to just knock the poor man out.

"You could be a serial killer. I don't know you. This is fucking weird," mickey said after a few seconds of staring at the redhead in silence. "Don't even know why I went out yesterday. I've gotta get back, Red," he moved towards his stuff, pulling on his jacket and his shoes and grabbing his bag before Ian could think up anything to say. 

Because that was all fair, really. He seemed to forget Mickey was the man he was gawking over in the library not even a week and a half before. "Oka-" the door slammed before Ian could finish the word, and he was left feeling slightly deflated. 

-

Tully had come back later that day. As one of Ians two best friends, and the only one communicating with him, he instantly noticed the general demeanour of the redhead. At first, he assumed it was because of Faith, but then he realised that if that were the case, Ian would only be exporting anger. He just seemed fed up and sad, flicking through the assignment book they had and sighing extra loud every few minutes.

Then, he finally figured it had to have been a result of Mickey. The guy was intimidating, and he hadn't left a trace of himself for when Tully had returned, despite the fact it wasn't even early afternoon. 

So, Tully left his friend to sulk alone. They'd talked about it before, and Faith, Noah and Rosie. They all liked it the same way when they were having a bad day or slightly upset : ignore it. Mostly. Maybe be nicer and offer coffees and things, but don't get all mushy and annoying and try to talk it out. Act nice and normal and avoid talking. 

-

"It's been three days, Ian," Tully said through a sigh as he walked into the dormitory, to see his friend sat in his bed, his laptop in a pillow in front of him, clicking away angrily. "You need to talk to Faith. She's tearing her skin off, loser."

Ian rolled his eyes and attempted to not let Tully see, continuing to work on his project. What the fuck kind of crazy shit was Yana on? He got rid of another paragraph, leaving a note in the margin. She was some weird indie chick so couldn't write for shit. "Jesus Christ, that assignment was set yesterday. How much have you done? Have you even been outside?"

Giving up, Ian slammed the lid of his laptop down and glared icily at his dorm mate, his hands folded calmly in his lap, even though they demonstrated the opposite of his feelings at that time. "I have, to get food and stuff." he paused. "You seen Mickey around?"

Tully sighed loudly, and rubbed his face with his hands, sitting down on his bag and looking up at Ian slowly. "What?" The redhead demanded, noticing a certain look in his best friends eyes, "Is he okay? Did something happen?" 

"No, Ian. I just... you... you don't know him," Tully so me slowly, although the Gallagher boy instantly groaned and stood up, grabbing his laptop and closing it, moving around to room hastily as his friend kept talking, which was the opposite of what he wanted him to do. "He could be a murderer."

"That's fucking rude, Tuls, he's not like his family." 

"I don't even know his family! Is he fucking famous in the Southside?" Tully watched ian flinch slightly, "they're like, a known dodgy family aren't they? Fucking hell! Faith was ri-"

"No she fucking wasn't! He's nice!"

“You don’t know him!”

Ian snarled at his friend, and opened the door to their dorm, stepping outside and slamming it. He didn’t even give Tully the chance to get to him, and took off down the hall. He’d find somewhere else to fucking go for the day, and he knew Tully would either apologise or spend the night at someone else’s. 

Ian spat on the floor and rounded the corner for the library, deciding there was no where else to go, and slammed full force into someone, a searing hot liquid hitting his chest at the same time. “Shit! My bad, I’m so fucking sorry,” 

Ian swore loudly, pressing his palms to his chest, wincing at the pain it brought. “Oh fuck, oh fuck, I split coffee all over you. Shit! I’m so fucking sorr- can I do something to help? You need a shirt or something? That’s weird, sorry,” 

Ian laughed slightly, despite himself, at looked st the guy talking. They were his age, obviously, with curly hair that was cut short and styled into a small whiff. He had glasses and a thin, white scar across his upper lip, and greyish eyes. “It’s fine. Well, other than the burning, I’m good. my fault anyway, I ran into you.” Ian offered, nodding at the guy,who smiled back. 

“Are you sure? Fuck, I’m so sorry. I feel awful,” he laughed nervously, running a hand through his hair and blinking rapidly. “Oh, shit! Where are my manners? I’m Noah,” 

“Ian Gallagher,” The redhead nodded politely, trying to figure out why he felt disappointed. He went to step around the boy, who opened his mouth again, sadly. 

“Is there anything I can do, though? I feel awful and your shirt is soaked, how can I help?” 

“Mainly by leaving him the fuck alone, probably,” a rough, heavily accented voice snorted as they walked past Ian and Noah. The redhead span on his ankle, instantly recognising it as Mickeys voice. Sure enough, the guy was walking past him without a card in the world.

“Mickey, wait up!” Ian called, instantly forgetting about rambling, bumbling Noah to chase after Mickey. He already looked better than before, his pale skin was still completely white but still appeared healthy, and his eyes were red around the edges but not bloodshot.

“Fuck off, Gallagher,”


	6. Return to the Origin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If Ian was actually growing on Mickey, the man was refusing to show it. Mostly.

"What the fuck have I done?" Ian asked as he caught up and walked beside the rough looking male, who rolled his eyes, not even daring to look towards the redhead. 

"I don't fuckin' know you and you kidnapped me. Fuck off before I break your kneecaps." Mickey pushed past him and into the library, which only made Ian's face split into a grin.

"I didn't kidnap you, you fell asleep." Ian hissed when Mickey kicked the doors shut and hit his hand slightly, but pushed through them. Janice was at the counter, and initially was scowling at Mickey, but her face lifted to confusion when she saw the redhead with him. 

"Fuck off, Gallagher. Go flirt with your fuckin' grandma." Mickey grunted, and started heading to the more grown up section of the library. Ian stuck to his heels like a puppy, grinning and whining. 

"Please, we all know she isn't my type." Ian almost instantly regretted the comment after he said it, but surprisingly Mickey didn't even have a physical reaction to it, let alone a verbal one. 

So the redhead continued to follow him when the man started flicking through fantasy books, cursing at each one. Eventually he pulled out a book from the Mistborn series, a series Ian was heavily invested in. "Brandon Sanderson. Good choice."

Mickey looked at him with raised eyebrows for a few seconds, before shoving past him again, knowing Ian was right at his ankles. "Bet you haven't read shit, Red." He mumbled under his breath as he waddled to the textbook section and was actually reading the spines for a particular book. Eventually he found it, and Ian continued to follow him to the main desk, where he refused to notice Janice was watching with a grin. 

"I've read Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive, actually. I'm not in an English Lit and Fiction Writing student for no reason." That definitely caught Mickeys attention, half way through pulling out books he had to return. He studied Ian for a few seconds, before shrugging. 

"Fancy indie kid, are we? The fuck are you doing in Uni?" Right. Ian got that comment from a lot of people, especially being friends with Tully (People also assumed Faith was doing 'easy' ((None of the courses the trio did were easy - none in the uni were)) courses. Psychology was apparently a shock). 

So, Ian ignored the hostile tone completely. "I want to be a writer, actually. Why are you doing Lit and Advanced Math?" He asked nosily, pointing at the textbook. Mickey rolled his eyes, and put his card down on top of the books to return. Janice watched the pair with a careful eye, smiling a little. 

"None of your business, Red." 

"Right, you just asked me..." The glare he got from Mickey served as enough. "Never mind." 

"Gallagher," Janice snapped him out of his slightly trace having a conversation (sort of one sided  almost a real conversation, though) with Mickey Milkovich. "You getting anything, or are you and Sergeant Slaughter going to continue to bicker like a married couple?"

Ian snorted when Mickey scowled, and whines when the man started to take off. "No thanks JJ, see you soon! Dinner, Friday, I'll pick you up!" He called as he wondered after Mickey, much to the mans dismay. 

"Want to study together?" Ian asked when he'd successfully returned to Mickeys side, not really caring where they were currently headed. Mickey glared at him, and that was enough of an answer. "Come on, you can show me how smart you are and I can school you on the weird but amazing magic system in Mistborn! Kelsier or Vin?" 

"It's not hard, Gallagher. It's just fuckin Math," Mickey stumbled over his last few words, and paused, trying not to move his eyes of the halls in front of him. "Kelsier, obviously." 

Ian grinned. 

-

"You're fucking smart." Ian commented as he watched Mickey do his math problems under a tree around the back of campus grounds. It was the little fenced off forest that they weren't supposed to be allowed in, to preserve the trees or some shit, but people (including Mickey, to ians newer knowledge) went there to drink and get high and no one really, actually cared. 

Mickey glared down at the paper, his fingers curling harder around his pen. "No, it's easy." He tried explaining it to the redhead, who, to be fair, was focusing more on the teacher than the teachings, but it was the fourth time Mickey had attempted to explain it and it wasn't going to stick anytime soon. 

Noticing Ians total lack of care for the subject, Mickey rolled his eyes and slammed the book shut. "You done the peer assessing project?" He asked, reaching into his bag for something. A couple seconds later, he pulled out a little box of Marlboros.

"Did most of it this morning.” He commented, holding two fingers out, despite the surprised look he got. Mickey lit his own, inhaled, then handed it over, despite the whine he got. Then he lit his own, and put it between his lips. 

“Wasn’t it set yesterday? Got no fuckin life, Gallagher?” Mickey snarked, stretching his limbs out. Ian had to keep catching himself from staring too long, and it was getting harder every waking second he spent with the other man, but it was almost worth it. 

“Says the guy who preferred to spend his time getting coffee with me, because he was that exhausted from slaving over work, rather than doing something more fun. Like, oh, I don’t know, going to parties or whatever the hell most Uni kids do.” Mickey glared at him and shoved into his shoulder lightly. 

His fingers wrapped around the cigarette in his mouth and took it out, blowing the smoke into Ians face, despite the complaints he got. “Not slaving over work, fuck off Red.” 

“You mixed red bull and coffee! Twice!” Mickey pushed him again, this time Ian could see the smile he’d managed to mostly fight off last time, but it quickly disappeared when he caught himself again. 

“What the fuck ever. You gonna explain this dumb ass book to me, anyway?”


	7. Not Exactly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I wouldn’t say me and him are really friends, but sure. Why not?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you again, for reading!!

Mickey was wholeheartedly one of the smartest people Ian had ever met. He’d go as far to say he challenged Lip. Maybe not in the Math department, but he seemed to know weird facts even the oldest Gallagher boy wouldn’t. 

They got hot under the tree, and Ian was going to suggest returning to his dorm instead of sweating anymore, but paused. In the end, Mickey wound up sighing and asking him if they could exchange numbers and study another time. The redhead had never been more happy. 

He didn’t text him for a whole day, though. 

firecrotch: so, when is our next study session, know-it-all?

sergeant slaughter: fuck off, red 

sergeant slaughter: what are you doing tomorrow morning? we’ve got class at two but we can go over stuff until then

firecrotch: its a plan 

Rising from his bed, Ian looked over at Tully to see his friend staring back at him. They had an expressionless war with their eyes, and eventually the redhead gave in. “I’m going to talk to Faith later, okay? I promise. It’s weird not studying with you guys every four minutes.” 

Tully did laugh, which made Ian happy. He knew his friend had never been big on arguments in general, between strangers or lovers, and hated them between his two best friends. It was probably more painful for him than the guilty participants. “Are you kidding? Don’t think I didn’t see you and Mister Milkovich. Tell me, can he tell the different between a trapezium and a circle?”

Ian glared slightly, even if he knew his friend was completely joking. Tully was always stereotyped, and so was Faith, so all three of them avoided doing it to other people at all costs. It still made his brain stutter for a few seconds, though. There was also the fact Mickey had literally said he did Advanced Math. 

“How’s studying for you going, anyway? Exams are in a month.” 

Tully scoffed, looking up from his phone properly then. “They don’t matter, they’re basically mocks. I’ve been studying anyway.” Ian raised an eyebrow, a smile flooding across his face. Usually, his friend would spill every unnecessary detail, unless he didn’t want the other to know. 

“Who withhhh?” Ian said in a song song, completely forgetting his plan to catch a bus to Starbucks and type up some dumb thing for the last of Yana’s notes, and then email it all to her. She’d already done his, and he was yet to read it. Tully tried to hide his smile. 

“A girl called Rosanna and a boy called Noah.” 

Ian gaped, leaning down to smack his friends feet with his notebook, making a horribly high pitched noise. “You saucy little minx! Two of them?” Tully winced and shook his head, laughing. 

“No you fucking drama queen! They’re twins,” he stuttered over the end, and watched as Ians eyes blew impossibly wider, “I’m not doing them both! Jesus Christ...”

“So..?” Ian trailed off, holding the notebook up again, dangerously close to the freckled mans shins. “Who are you pushing it into?” Tully snorted at the choice of words, his nose and cheeks going pink. 

“Noah. Or, trying to.”

Ians mind flicked back to the Noah that ran into him a couple days prior, and clicked his tongue. “What does he look like?” He asked casually, dropping the notebook next to Tully’s legs and actually beginning to gather his needed things, shoving them into his side bag. 

“I dunno. Blonde curly hair, kind of skinny, but muscular, like you. Green eyes. Him and Rosie are identical, too.” Tully blushed more, his voice getting quiet and quiet, whilst it sped up more and more. Ian grinned evilly and tapped his bedside table as he picked up his laptop charger. 

“I met him. Spilt coffee on me before I saw Mickey. He’s super awkward, Tuls, didn’t know that was your type.” Tully cracked up a little, and sat up properly, shaking his head. 

“Yeah... stuff happened that day. Normally he’s really down to earth and hates everyone. Not the way Mickey hates everyone, he’s really nice, but he hates everyone.”

“Except you.” Ian pointed out, pulling on his grey hoodie, then a green jacket and putting his bag over the top. “Have fun doing the lust and thrust, or what ever!” 

-

Starbucks was fairly full when Ian got there. How it normally was, though. He sat on the long table lining the window, putting a seat in between him and the next person, a fourty or so looking man, in a duo, doing something fancy on an iPad. 

He started up his laptop and braced for the worst as he opened Yana’s email. Turns out, she did shit all, but her peer assessing was pretty much all positive. He felt like he was back in High School when they set the task, but apparently it was supposed to be so they all got to know each other. 

Expecting a room of young adults and teenagers to say more than the minimum allowed words to each other? Jog on. 

Someone slid into the seat beside him just as he closed down that doc and started typing his last few conclusion comments on Yana’s dreadful work. He looked up briefly, his hands slowing when he recognised Mickeys sister, watching him carefully. 

She smiled and shook her head, a little embarrassed. “Sorry, sorry. You’re in my Fiction Writing class, aren’t you?” He thought about it for a second, remembering a few circumstances where’d he’d seen girls that could’ve been her. 

“I have no idea, sorry Mr. Trafford your professor?” She nodded, grinning, and even though Ian was five hundred percent sure he was gay, he couldn’t help but think about how pretty she was. Then how pretty Mickey was, and he found himself wondering if their whole bloodline were also drop dead gorgeous. “Then yeah.”

“Cool. So, since you’re friends with my brother, can I dibs you for every project we have to do?” She asked, tapping her nails on the dark wood of the weird shelf table, leaning on the palm of her other hand. 

Ian shrugged, his fingers leaving his keyboard completely, deciding to finish it once his and Mickeys sisters conversation had ended fully. “I wouldn’t say me and him are really friends, but sure. Why not?”

“I’m Mandy, by the way.” she smiled again, once he’d accepted, her nose crinkling as she smiled, making her nose ring wiggle a little, her bright blue eyes that matched Mickeys so well following his every shift in movement. 

It totally ran in the family.


	8. Mr. Gallagher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He felt a little ecstatic knowing that Mickey was in the same building as him most of the time, but then he wondered if he actually was. Considering the apparent non-existent sleeping pattern of the dark haired man.

"You, Mr. Gallagher," Mandy commented as they stepped out of Starbucks, both finished with their respected work. She was holding a cardboard cup close to her chest, mimicking Ian. "Are absolutely magnificent. How has my brother not snatched you up yet?"

Ian froze a little, stumbling over his feet in an attempt to not fall over completely. "What?" Mandy stopped completely. Her face looked panic-stricken, and she nervously laughed, trying to see if Ian himself was joking. 

"Do you not know?"

Ian swallowed. He wasn't dumb, he could figure it out himself. It didn't mean he knew how to feel about it, though. "Mickey's... he's gay, isn't he?" Mandy grabbed Ian's arm, pulling him away from the open paths and into the beginning of an alley. She shoved him against a wall, her eyes hard and icy. Ian was actually slightly intimidated. 

"If you tell anyone, I will cut your tiny dick off and shove it so far down your throat that you can't breathe." Ian laughed breathily, which only made Mandy push against him harder. "I'm serious, dickbreath!"

"Okay, okay!" He held his hands up in surrender. Many sneered and let go of him, but made sure he felt threatened enough. "I would never tell anyone, anything. Not kidding, Mandy."

She gave him one last glare before stepping back fully and crossing her arms over her chest. "Whatever. I like you, so I'm going to let it slide. But I stand by what I said." 

Ian grinned, brushing his arms and shoulders off. She was intimidating, but sadly not as intimidating as her brother, so the redhead was almost accumulated to it. She didn't strike him with fear much. His mind briefly flashed to Tully, and how freaked he'd be in the situation, and then Faith, who'd probably be negotiating her way out of it. "Thanks, I guess. Where is Mickey?" 

She looked at him and raised her eyebrows slightly, narrowing her eyes. She was still suspicious. That was fair enough. Sometimes Ian forgot he didn't make it blatantly obvious he was a flaming homosexual, sometimes, but life was more fun getting hit on by girls and then turning them down by checking out the guy next to them. "I don't know. Probably stressing over some dumbass college work or devoting his life to Dota 2."

Oh my god, Ian thought to himself, Mickeys a gaming nerd? How adorable. "Thanks. Gotta ask him about some 'dumbass college work', is all." He lies easily, holding his fingers up for quotation marks. Mandy snorted slightly, covering up the fact that she knew that was complete bullshit. "So are you not in college then? Was that actual work-work?" He felt kind of dumb asking, especially after realising she'd introduced herself by asking if, and concluding that, in fact, he was in her Fiction Writing class. 

Mandy rolled her eyes, adjusting the bag on her shoulder as Ian spoke indirectly of it. She clearly didn't really like talking about the subject, but it wasn't a big deal. "No, I am. Bribed my way in. Or, my brothers did. Mickey was accepted and they thought that was outrageous and though I should at least go to watch over him." Ian laughed slightly, simply at the thought of Mickey needing anyone to look after him. He'd probably detest the simple suggestion. 

"Fiction Writing, duh." He gently hit the temple of his head to emphasise his point. He hadn't even noticed they'd started walking, but they were deep into the centre of the town, not really heading for the el. They were too busy chatting. He felt easy around Mandy already, and it was probably another dumb Milkovich thing, but she seemed nice past the hard exterior. Like Mickey. 

"Yup." She concluded, and they walked for a half minute in comfortable silence. Eventually, they turned off and headed for a the el to get back to campus. "Do you live on-site?" She asked when they reached the el and stood on the concrete, the light of the evening slowly fading away. it was still really bright out, but it was only just nearing autumn. 

"Yeah, Block B. You?"

Mandy shrugged, tapping her nails against her arm. “It depends. My roommate nearly always has her boyfriend over, so sometimes I’m there, sometimes I’m at Micks and sometimes I’m wherever the wind takes me. Block D.” Okay, Ian could guess what she meant by that, with the help of the devilish grin. “Did you know Mickeys in B as well?”

No, no he absolutely didn’t. He felt a little ecstatic knowing that Mickey was in the same building as him most of the time, but then he wondered if he actually was. Considering the apparent non-existent sleeping pattern of the dark haired man. “Cool, cool.” Eventually, their train showed up, and they hopped on, taking to standing next to the doors and clutching onto the grimy overhead bars. Within ten minutes, they were back in the area. They were just going up the mangy road behind Block D when Ian finally brought it up. “Uh, Mandy?” 

She hummed in response, much more focused on taking giant footsteps to get to somewhere cool and comfortable as quick as possible. Unlike the el station in central town, it was an uncomfortable, sticky-hot again on campus. “Why is Mickey always so tired?”. Mandy did pause at that. 

Her expressions seemed to alter and differ, but she eventually landed on carelessness. They both knew it was fake. Neither mentioned it. “I don’t know. Probably all the school work they make us do.”

“Right.” 

They continued walking, and Ian took Mandy right up to her door (where bitchy Talia and douchey Conrad were not present) before going his own way, through the trees and briefly looking over to Mickeys tree. No one was there, just students out front, out of the way. Ian sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it’s been a while since I’ve updated but I still love this fic. :) xx


End file.
